Donald Trump has appointed Mike Waltz, the head of the India Caucus, as his new National Security Adviser. Waltz, a 50-year-old retired Army colonel who served as a Green Beret, is a Congressman from Florida. He has been a member of the US House of Representatives since 2019. This appointment is seen as significant for India from the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump. He has been a strong critic of President Joe Biden's foreign policy and is a member of the House Armed Services Committee, House Foreign Affairs Committee, and the House Intelligence Committee this term.
He has urged Europe to increase its support for Ukraine and has advocated for the US to take a tougher stance in its support, in line with a major foreign policy objective of the President-elect. He has also been a strong critic of the Biden administration's 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Waltz has praised Trump for pushing NATO allies to spend more on defense, but unlike the President-elect has not suggested the US pull out of the alliance.
"Look we can be allies and friends and have tough conversations," Waltz said last month.
Waltz is also on the Republican's China taskforce and has argued the US military is not as prepared as it needs to be if there is conflict in the Indo-Pacific region.
Waltz had been open about his willingness to serve in the administration and was considered a candidate to lead the Pentagon. The National Security Adviser position does not require Senate confirmation. Waltz serves as a co-chair of the India Caucus in the House, the largest country-specific group in the US Congress. Trump has rapidly announced key personnel for his incoming administration, such as Susan Wiles, his White House Chief of Staff, who will be the first woman to hold this position. Other appointments made by Trump include Stephen Miller as a senior adviser, who is a prominent critic of the H-1b visa program that he attempted to terminate during Trump's first administration. The President-elect has swiftly put together a team of senior staff members following his victory in last week's election. He has already named Tom Homan as his "border czar," Elise Stefanik as US ambassador to the United Nations, and Lee Zeldin as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
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November 12, 2024 at 08:36AM
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